Light metal alloys, such as aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys, are increasingly used in the production of both structural and body parts for automobiles. The use of such materials provides a means for reducing the weight of the automobile while continuing to maintain functional requirements for structural strength and crash resistance.
Aluminum alloys have low formability compared to draw-quality steel, and thus working with these materials presents challenges in obtaining good part definition and optimal formability. As an alternative to straight stamping, warm forming of aluminum alloy sheet has emerged as a way to increase the ductility and formability of the aluminum alloy. As a result, there is a need in the art for optimized warm forming processes to address the continued technical challenges of forming high quality parts using light metal alloys, such as aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys.